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Survival Research Laboratories at Marlborough Contemporary
Founded in 1978 by Mark Pauline, Survival Research Laboratories is an American performance art group known for its use of custom-built machines to create large-scale performance events. This is not to say that the group’s work is exclusively robotic. It is true that the group’s performance art is largely mechanical, and many of the group’s machines are robotic. The group has also been known for its resistance to commercialization.
Mark Pauline’s work
During the late 1960s, Mark Pauline admired the far left revolutionary group, Weather Underground, who blew up police stations and a Pentagon bathroom in their quest for financial and racial equality. The group argued for the right of all people to be free from oppression, and sought world communism.
Mark Pauline was born in Sarasota, Florida, in 1953. He grew up with four brothers and a mother who worked full time. In the early 1970s, he worked as a heavy equipment maker. When he was younger, his father left the family. During the 60s, Pauline and his brothers explored abandoned properties in Sarasota.
In 1978, he founded Survival Research Laboratories. The group uses a variety of military and industrial equipment to create art. They often use robots. These machines are designed to mimic the movements of humans. They are also capable of firing flames and other special effects.
Survival Research Laboratories has staged over fifty mechanized presentations in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Their shows are often described as ultraviolent performances. These shows are meant to shock and make viewers feel alive with fear.
The group’s show at Marlborough Contemporary
MARLBOROUGH CONTEMPORARY explores the processes of perception through pop-culture. The exhibition will include works by Alice Aycock, Inka Essenhigh, Beverly Pepper, Ron Gorchov, and Justen Ladda. It will also feature audiovisual recreations of the Tony Scott directed film Cult.
Marlborough Contemporary is located in the Mayfair flagship of Marlborough Fine Art. The new exhibition, True Romance, will explore pop-culture and perception. The gallery will also present works by artists not often shown in New York or London.
This is the artist’s first solo show in over a decade. The works depict stylized sunsets and pop culture. In addition to paintings, the artist will present a mixed-media work that’s inspired by a cult classic.
The Marlborough Contemporary program will also include a career-spanning exhibition by filmmaker Kenneth Anger. In addition to the Anger exhibition, Marlborough will present works by Cuban painter Tomas Sanchez. The gallery will also host a solo show by New York-based artist Grear Patterson.
The robots’ performance at Marlborough Contemporary
During the Seattle Art Fair, a few hundred people gathered to watch the opening of the Survival Research Laboratories’ (SRL) exhibition “Inconsiderate Fantasies of Negative Acceleration Characterized by Non-Consensual Sacrifices.” Now, the group has been invited to display its wares at Marlborough Contemporary in New York. The exhibition runs from January 6 through February 10 and will be the first time the group has presented its work in a commercial gallery.
The show includes eight kinetic sculptures from 1986 to the present and includes video documentation of previous performances. The kinetic works include “Track Robot,” which was created in 1998 and has been updated to use a 3-D Oculus Rift headset.
Another piece, “Pitching Machine,” will be the first to launch wooden planks at speeds of 200 mph into a bulletproof containment vessel. The work’s design is based on a 500 cubic inch Cadillac engine.
Mark Pauline is the artist behind Survival Research Laboratories, a San Francisco-based group that stages large-scale, multi-machine performances. Typically, the performers are huge and gritty, and they do their work without human interaction.
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